Glad to have someone like you
by leafs nation
Summary: Sometimes, all you need to get you out of a crappy situation is a good friend and a little kid. AU, no zombie apocalypse. Renamed because the original title was way too cheesy :P
1. Chapter 1

"I'll take a bottle of Corona, Jim," the man called, slowly drumming his fingers along the edge of the hardwood table.

"Coming up!" he replied, mixing up the concoction with what the customer considered to be ridiculously quick timing and handing it over. "You've got a ride home tonight, right? No offense – it's just that you've had at least five of these tonight."

"Jim, I've been coming here for years. You know me."

"Alright, alright… I'm just concerned is all. You don't seem the same tonight, Lee."

Jim went back to cleaning out some glasses with a dish towel, while Lee sighed and took a big sip out of his drink – his vision starting to become a little blurry.

Lee Everett wasn't a drunk by any means. Heck, usually he was against drinking this late when he should be at home sleeping. But tonight was different. There had been a lot on his mind over the past few days or so, and no – it wasn't the fact that he had to grade a whole bunch of papers for his history class. Lee just didn't know what to do about his relationship with…

"Thought I'd find you here."

"What do you want, Kenny?"

The bearded man took a seat on the stool next to Lee and patted him on the shoulder. Under normal circumstances, Lee would've been glad that his friend came to hang out with him – just the guys having a few beers, talking about their families and bitching about how crappy their work was going. Kenny was due for a fishing excursion in a couple of days that would take him overseas, so they wouldn't see each other for a while. His family was originally from Florida, but they had both agreed that a place in rural Georgia might be more suitable to raise a family. Plus, Katjaa's sister lived nearby so they'd be closer to her sibling.

But tonight, Lee didn't give a damn about anything. He just wanted to drink and sin in peace for a change.

"Nah, just some water for me Jim. Thanks," he told the barkeep, handing him a five dollar bill and telling him to keep the change. He then turned to Lee and shook his head, sighing heavily at the crestfallen man.

"Clementine and Duck called me tonight – told me you didn't show up for their little "open house" at the school tonight. Want to tell me what's going on, pal?"

Lee groaned and rubbed his face with his hand. He had been so preoccupied with his thoughts that he had completely forgotten about the open house. So much for being a role model…

"How did Clem take it?" Lee asked, hoping that she wouldn't hate him for all eternity.

Kenny shrugged his shoulders and took a sip from his water. "Hard to tell over the phone, man. She had already been driven back to the orphanage by the time I picked up Duck and Katjaa. You might have some explaining to do."

Clementine used to live with her parents in a suburban part of Georgia, just outside of Lee's hometown of Macon, until a deadly house fire claimed both of her parent's lives. Lee could remember that day vividly…

_Seven months earlier…_

_Lee drove his brand-spanking new Chevrolet down the street, satisfied with how well his lecture had gone that day. Talking about civil war history always sparked something in his soul – it was just so interesting to him! He'd never understand how his wife could pass out after listening to it after five minutes._

_He passed down the next few sets of streets, marvelling at some of the architecture. Colonial style buildings… Single level houses… A house that's up in flames… Wait, what?! _

_The fire had consumed most of the top floor from the looks of things; the windows and wooden frames engulfed in a vicious mix of red and orange. Smoke was rising quickly, and Lee was shocked as to why the fire department hadn't gotten there yet. He just prayed that nobody was inside._

_He instantly stopped his car on the side of the curb, yelling out a profanity as a garbage can spilled its contents over the hood. Not even a week and it was already dirty…_

_But Lee would have time to give it a wash later. Running up the driveway, he squinted his eyes, trying to see if anybody needed some help. _

"_Hello?! Is anyone in there?! Yell if you can hear me!" he called, cupping his hands around his mouth to try and augment the sound._

_Not getting any response, Lee was about to turn away and wait for the firefighters to show up until a scared, little voice cried out…_

"_Mom! Daddy! Cough… ack… weeze… uggh, where are you?!" _

_Immediately Lee sprang into action, swinging the door open and thanking his lucky stars that the child wasn't locked inside of the collapsing house. He could tell that the flames were getting closer, and he coughed up as the smoke filled his lungs with their vile fumes. He bent down to avoid it, and for a second Lee though he was seeing things. A tiny, frail figure stood quivering with fear on the kitchen floor, obviously looking for her parents. Lee ran over to the girl and tried to be as reassuring as possible._

"_Why – why are you here? This is my house!" the girl called, holding onto a chair or support._

"_Come on, kid! We need to get you out of here! It's not safe, this whole place is gonna come down!"_

_The frightened girl shook her head violently and her grip on the chair only tightened as Lee tried to move her. _

"_No!" she cried, "My parents are still in here! I need to find them!"_

_Lee could hear the ceiling start to creak, and he knew that it was only a matter of time before they'd be squished and burned alive. Reaching out his hand, Lee was practically begging her to leave with him._

"_Just trust me, okay?"_

_The girl still looked doubtful, but she reluctantly took Lee's hand and started hurrying towards the front door. Lee mentally kicked himself for not just going through the back door, but he couldn't take the chance of getting trapped in here._

_Just as they were about to make their escape, Lee stopped and opened his eyes in horror, and it took everything he had to prevent the girl from looking at the stairs._

_Thankfully, he couldn't see a face… but he saw enough to know that her parents were well and truly dead. You couldn't even tell who the father was and who was the mother anymore, they were so burned up. Lee felt himself care deeply for the little girl that he was with for some reason, and it almost to him felt like he had a responsibility to make sure she was safe. Something told him that he owed this unknown couple that much._

_They stumbled out of the house just in the nick of time, as just three minutes later the ground floor started to burn away – though by that time the fire department had shown up and began dowsing the flames._

_The little girl was really shaken up as she shivered against Lee's leg. One of the fire fighters had given her a blanket to wrap herself in, but no amount of comfort would help with the news that she received._

_Lee couldn't believe how hurt he felt from this girl's suffering. She had collapsed to the ground and had broken out into hysterical, uncontrollable sobs, and there was nothing that any of them could do. Her parents were gone – forever._

_The man had stayed a while after that, answering some questions for the police and getting kudos for his daring rescue. _

_But Lee Everett didn't feel like a hero, and he certainly didn't feel like he'd helped the little girl by any means. She had just lost her entire world, all at the tender age of eight._

"_Just make sure she's safe, wherever she's going," Lee requested to the social worker, nodding as she explained how they were going to see if she had any relatives that could look after her. If not, then they'd end up putting her in the foster home (which is what ended up happening). _

_As Lee returned to his car and strapped himself in, he glanced up to the back of the police car to see none other than the little girl staring back at him; her eyes glossy and bloodshot. She held her hand out against the glass window as a sort of question, and Lee simply nodded._

_He would come see her again, and this time he'd actually learn her name._

_End flashback… _

"So why are you out here drinking your god-damned brains out? This isn't like you, man," Kenny scolded, tapping Lee's drink with his finger.

"It's complicated."

Shaking his head, Kenny stared out the window in exasperation. Lee wasn't known to outright express his emotions to anybody – not even his wife half the time. He was more of an advice giver and one heck of a good listener. Not wanting to anger his friend by pushing this, Kenny changed the subject.

"So what's the deal with you and Clem anyway?"

"What do you mean?" Lee asked, confused as to why he was asking.

"You go over to that foster home every other day, same time every single visit. You talk about her _constantly _and sometimes even pick her up from school. Dude, why don't you just adopt her?"

"Donna doesn't want kids," Lee replied flatly, but Kenny wasn't buying it.

"Seems to me that it's more about what Donna wants, but not what you want," Kenny commented, looking Lee right in the eye. "You need to voice your opinion for a change, Lee. Otherwise you're just gonna get stepped on and tossed aside for the rest of your life."

"It's not that simple Kenny…"

"Why isn't it?"

"Because Donna cheated on me, that's why!"

Even though it was just them and Jim in the bar, it felt eerily silent in the room. Lee could hear the fan humming above his head, and immediately he wanted to chuck it out the window. Regret and misery was flowing through his veins at that moment – misery over the cheating, but regret that he didn't try to fix his broken relationship earlier.

Honestly, Lee saw his relationship with Donna declining for over a year now. They fought all the time and would avoid each other for days on end. In fact, Lee would sometimes voluntarily stay behind after all the other professors went home and just sit at his desk – watching sports on the internet or playing games on his cell phone.

"How… why… what?" Kenny stuttered, tripping over his words as if he'd forgotten which language he was supposed to be speaking.

Lee ran his fingers through his short, dark hair. "I caught her sleeping with Marshall, the-"

"The fuckin' state senator?!"

"Yeah, he's the one…"

Kenny was furious. How could she do this to Lee? Instead of just talking to him and sorting things out, she goes and sleeps with another man?!

"Fuckin' hell… Man, you must've shown a hell of a lot of restraint. If I were in your shoes, I would've shot the bastard right then and there!"

"Believe me," Lee started looking at his friend, "I had half a mind to take a baseball bat and beat the crap out of him. But what good would it do?"

Sighing and putting a fifty dollar bill on the counter, Lee stood up and started walking out of the bar… until Kenny grabbed his shoulder.

"Come on pal, lemme drive you home. Unless… you don't live there anymore…" Kenny finished kind of sheepishly, not wanting to bring up any touchy subjects in Lee's intoxicated state.

To his relief, Lee simply waved it off. "I'll take the ride, thanks. But Donna's gone. I told her to take her friend with her, too."

"Good on ya man," Kenny smirked and lead Lee to his pickup, which was situated outside. As he started the engine and drove out of the parking lot, Lee knew what he wanted to do in the morning. For once, he'd be able to choose his own path – live his own life.

A life that he planned to share with that little orphaned girl he'd met a long time ago.

Well, as long as she was okay with it of course.


	2. Take some kid to work day

Lee Everett felt like he'd just been hit by a bus, had it back up over him again, been set on fire and then dropped off a cliff into the sharp rocks below. Ok, maybe it's a little bit of an exaggeration, but the man sure felt like shit that morning.

The alcohol from late last night had taken its toll, and he cursed himself for not eating a proper meal beforehand or at least drinking some water before he went to bed. The second he hit the bed last night he passed out, and Kenny practically had to drag him out of his truck and up to his front door to get him to move. Luckily he didn't fall over or else Kenny might not have been able to get him situated again.

Anyway, back to this morning. Lee was sitting at his kitchen table, with dark semi-circles underneath his eyes and a massive headache that just didn't seem to go away. The events of yesterday just kept playing over and over in his mind, and it just made him feel… empty. Dirty and empty.

Honestly, Lee was shocked that he hadn't straight-up killed that senator yesterday. The thought had crossed his mind, and on instinct his eyes had darted towards the sharpest thing in the room. Luckily for him, his self-control won out.

At least, it did physically. Verbal rage was just a given.

He remembered the heat he unleashed on the two of them, saying how if she wanted to end the relationship so bad then she should've just told him, and how she could spend the rest of her effing life with this sorry prick if she hated him so much. As loudly as he could, Lee ordered the both of them to get out, slammed the door behind them and then collapsed onto the floor in sobs. He thought that he was well past this stage of crying, as he hadn't done so in nearly fifteen years. But this was different. His life had just been torn apart, ripped into tiny little shreds and then tossed out into the wind. There was no way he would be able to pick up the pieces.

And then he remembered what he said he'd do today.

Quickly taking a shower and grabbing his leather jacket, Lee drove through traffic towards the foster home. It wasn't too far of a drive, and he really didn't mind doing it every weekday. Not only was it on the way to UGA, but he also really enjoyed the young girl's company as he'd take her to school. It was pretty amusing when she'd talk about how easy the first grade was, and how she seemed to be incredibly wise beyond her years. Perhaps that was a side effect of having her parents die like that – she'd had to grow up a lot more quickly than other kids her age. But Lee was never sure.

He pulled into the small parking lot in the middle of the city where the foster home was. The building itself wasn't anything special; just a white, wooden building with a little garden by the front porch with a swing set out back. The porch itself looped around the house, and it had some comfortable chairs that the owners often sat in when they needed some fresh air. However, Lee wasn't surprised to find Clem sitting in the rocking chair now, engrossed in some comic book she must have gotten from the library.

"Hey bud, you all ready to go?" Lee asked, slightly startling the girl. Obviously she hadn't heard him come up.

"It's a PA day, I don't go to school," she explained.

Lee nearly smacked himself on the forehead. Of course. How could he have forgotten already? She told him this just last week, too.

"Oh, right. Lucky you then, eh?"

"Mhmm."

Lee adjusted himself to lean on the handrail. "So, what are you gonna do then today? Just read your stash of comics all day?"

The girl looked as though she was contemplating, which Lee thought looked adorable as hell. Honestly, what else could she do around here? On numerous occasions Clementine had told him that she didn't like the kids around here very much, and all of her friends from school lived with their families. After a little while, the light bulb went on over her head, and she turned towards him.

"Can I come with you today?"

Well, that was a little unexpected.

"Clem, you do realise that I teach history right? I'm pretty sure you're gonna get…"

Before he could answer, Clementine ran over to the passenger seat of his car and strapped herself in.

"…bored."

Mrs. Tucker, one of the owners of the foster home, stepped outside and greeted Lee. She was a pleasant enough woman, with long-flowing brown hair that ran down to her shoulders and a pair of old-fashioned glasses that were starting to look breakable. For some reason, Clementine never really connected with Mrs. Tucker. Lee thought it may have had something to do with her hating having to go live in this building every day, but he never said anything. She never mistreated the girl though.

"Morning, Lee. Off to work again are we?"

"Yeah, just about to head out now."

She looked into the front window and smirked as Clementine had strapped herself in. "Looks as though you've got some company today."

"Yeah, well she seems to think that spending a day at a university will be fun. I'm giving her two hours maximum before she wants to do something else," the man joked, starting to walk back. "I'll bring her back later tonight!"

"Lee, wait dear!"

Confused, Lee turned around to see Mrs. Tucker holding out an envelope of some kind. "I want you to really consider this offer, alright? Sit down and think about it after you read through, ok?"

"Sure thing, Mrs. Tucker," he agreed, not really sure what she was talking about. What could be so important in there?

_Later that evening…_

"Alright everyone, settle down," Lee urged the class of about 300 students, his voice echoing throughout the room thanks to the microphone he had strapped to his shirt.

"Before we start today, I'd like you to all meet my uh, assistant, Clementine. She's going to be helping me out tonight."

They'd been at this all day, but Lee's other classes weren't nearly as large as this one. Some of the people smiled and waved at her, but Clementine was experiencing major stage fright. The biggest crowd she'd ever had to deal with was in kindergarten when all the parents came to watch her class do a little play. But even that had less than thirty people there – this was insane!

Luckily, Lee noticed this and immediately got into the lesson to ease Clementine of most of the stares she was getting.

"So, we left off talking about the civil war…"

Instead of really paying attention to what Lee was saying, she decided to have a look inside of Lee's desk. He had to have had something interesting in there right? Opening the desk as quietly as possible, Clem dug around.

Pencils, staples, paperclips… _borrring. _Where was all the good stuff?

"Isn't that right, Clementine?"

Widening her eyes, the girl looked out into the crowd again, who were all watching her awaiting her response. It's unfortunate that she really hadn't heard a single word he'd said.

"Umm… yes?" she offered, getting a chuckle out of most of the room, including Lee.

Back to searching. She ruffled around in the desk, careful not to mess anything up by being too careless. Underneath a stack of papers that Lee hadn't graded yet was a small photo of himself and three others, whom Clementine suspected was his family. She'd never actually met them herself, and Lee really didn't like to talk about them much. Figuring that he wouldn't appreciate her snooping around so much, Clementine was about to shut the desk, when she noticed an envelope fall out of the desk.

Curious, she picked it up and made sure that Lee wasn't watching her.

Inside was some kind of form. Clementine wasn't really sure what it was for exactly until she glanced down at the very bottom, and she gasped as she stood up too quickly. The box that was on Lee's desk came crashing to the floor, causing a loud bang and its contents to spill out.

The entire room became silent, and once again Clementine could feel all eyes pointing to her. In an effort to end the torment and embarrassment, she rushed out of the room and closed the door behind her.

Lee was a little dumbfounded, but he regained his composure and told the class calmly that he'd call it a night. One of the students, Ben Paul, tried to ask him a question about one of the assignments, but Lee simply told him to ask about it tomorrow. Lee cleaned up the papers that littered the floor, put them back in the box and, when everyone else had left, packed up his things and headed out into the hallway.

He found her sitting on a bench with her knees pulled up to her chest, frowning slightly with a few stray tears coming down her cheeks.

"You alright Clem? I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable in there. I guess I'm just so used to dealing with them that I forgot about your feelings," Lee tried to console.

The young girl didn't say much. She just shook her head slightly and took Lee's hand as they walked towards the parking lot.

The ride home wasn't much better. Clementine just stared out the window the entire time while Lee drove and flipped through the radio stations. He didn't really know what to say that would make her feel better, but he had to try something.

"If it makes you feel any better, I think they liked you…"

"Where were you yesterday?"

Sighing heavily, Lee stared straight ahead through the rain. How appropriate the weather was for the way things had been going lately.

How would he be able to say this? He couldn't say that he caught his wife sleeping with another man. That would be too weird to say to a nine year old, and she probably wouldn't understand anyway.

"I… went to the bar last night…" Lee admitted, which confused Clementine.

"The… bar? As in, like beer? Why?"

"It's complicated."

The girl huffed and sunk back in the seat a little bit. "That's what grownups always tell me when they don't want me knowing stuff."

Lee chuckled a little bit at that, but he turned solemn once again. She was right of course – she did have the right to know what was going on. Turning the corner, Lee stopped the car at the side of the street.

"Umm, Lee? This isn't the foster home."

"I know, honey, I know. It's just… I need to explain some things to you," Lee started, adjusting his body so that he was facing Clementine. She could tell that whatever he was about to say would be really important.

"Clem… my wife and I got separated last night," he tried explaining.

"What do you mean?"

"It means we aren't together anymore. She's no longer my wife, and I'm no longer her husband."

"Oh," Clementine looked down into her lap and twiddled her fingers around. "I don't feel good. I'm sorry…"

"No Clem, if anyone should be sorry, it should be me," Lee apologized, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, "I should've just come to your open house last night instead. You shouldn't have had to be picked up by Duck's parents."

Smirking slightly, Clementine perked up a little bit. "It's okay. You didn't really miss much. All they did was look at everyone's homework and stuff. Oh! I almost forgot!"

The girl scrounged around in her pack, pulling out a piece of paper with what looked like a little drawing.

"I made this for you!" she handed him the drawing with a hopeful grin.

Lee smiled as he saw what she had drawn. In it was the two of them on a hill, holding hands underneath the sun and an oak tree.

"Do you like it?" she asked, hoping that it wasn't too stupid or anything.

"I love it, thanks Clementine," he replied, giving her a hug in appreciation.

_Later…_

Lee walked up the front steps of the porch, holding the sleeping form of Clementine in his arms. She'd had a big day, and the last thing he wanted to do was wake her up after all that. He stepped inside the foster home, waved hello to the Tuckers who were watching TV, and walked over to Clementine's room.

"Night sweet pea," Lee whispered, placing her down onto the bed and setting her hat on the nightstand beside her. On instinct Clementine sleepily reached out for Lee, but she soon fell back into a deep slumber.

As Lee drove home and stepped out of the car, he stopped when he noticed the same envelope that Mrs. Tucker had given him this morning, but it seemed as though Clementine had read it.

Picking it up, Lee's eyes widened as he too saw the adoption form inside the envelope.


	3. Becoming a father

"Well, I don't see what the problem is here," Kenny admitted, telling Duck to go long as he tossed the football through the air.

"Ken, she ran out of the room after she read it yesterday. What if she isn't ready?" Lee asked, looking worriedly over at Clementine as she drew some more pictures on the park bench.

It was one of the nicest Saturdays they had had all year, so Kenny offered to take the four of them over to the park. Much of the town was there this afternoon, and Lee recognized a few familiar faces, including her neighbour Doug and his fiancée Carley, as well as her old friend Lilly and her asshole of a dad Larry (although he never admitted this to anyone).

"Here's an idea then, Einstein: why don't you talk to her about it? After that, just sign the form, get those foster home folks to scout out your place and you're done."

"She lost her parents not even a year ago Ken," Lee reminded him, stealing the ball before Kenny could catch it, "It's never gonna be that simple."

"You think she actually _likes _living there? I've driven past it, Lee – it ain't meant to be lived in for too long. She trusts you, man. Just talk to her."

"Alright," Lee conceded, tossing the football back to Duck, who caught it and started doing a victory dance, much to the amusement of Kenny.

He slowly approached the park bench, where Clementine smiled brightly and patted the seat next to her.

"What'cha drawing there, Clem?" he asked as he sat down, trying to sneak a peek at the masterpiece.

But Clem flipped the picture over, smirking as she did so. "It's a surprise," she explained.

"Ok, ok," Lee relented, "But is it for me?"

"I don't know."

Lee laughed as he watched a couple on bikes ride past them, and another family throwing a Frisbee to their dog, who caught it and ran off, the little boy giggling as he chased after him.

What he heard next caught him completely off guard.

"I miss my parents."

As Lee turned around, he could see that Clementine had stopped drawing and had let a few of the crayons fall to the ground. There was an sadness painted on her face that he couldn't really relate to – hell, not many could. How many kids that age had lost both of their parents that horrifically?

However, the sadness seemed to have numbed a bit over the past few months, not that she was alright with it but that she was adjusting to living without them. Lee had to admit, Clementine was one tough kid.

"I bet Clem," Lee replied sorrowfully, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"Sorry about that letter, I know I wasn't supposed to look at it."

"Would you be ok if…"

"Yeah, I think so," Clem replied, cutting him off. She knew what he was going to ask before he even asked.

He couldn't believe it. In just as much time as it had taken for his life to be ripped apart by loss and regret, there was this little girl to come pick up the pieces. Literally. It was a little bit shocking how quickly everything was coming together.

"Ok," he said, letting go of Clem and rubbing his hands through his short hair. "We'll head back after and get this sorted out."

Odd. It wasn't nearly the sappy, excited, storybook ending he'd originally pictured it would be like. No giant changes in behaviour, and no promises for a better future or any of that mushy crap. Maybe it was due to the relationship they had already developed over the last seven months – it wasn't like anything changed really. Lee was really the only one that Clem had left (adult-wise anyway). This was just sealing the deal, is all.

It was probably for the best.

_Later…_

True to Kenny's word, the Tuckers did have to check out Lee's home and do some background checks with him before he could adopt Clementine, even though Mrs. Tucker was certain they really had no reason to deny him. They returned to the foster home, signed all the forms, said their thank you's and goodbyes, and they were on their way back to Lee's home.

"Well, here we are. Home sweet home," Lee announced as they stepped out of the car. He popped the trunk open and grabbed one of Clem's suitcases, while she carried the other one. She really didn't have a lot of stuff with her, but then Lee remembered that a lot of it must have been destroyed in the fire. Clementine didn't mind too much though; after all, she still had the ball cap with her.

Unlocking the door, Lee allowed her to step inside first. His house was a little bit smaller than her old one, but she actually appreciated that. You didn't need to have a big house for only two people. She especially liked being able to sit out in the back under the shade of a big old tree to do her homework if she wanted to.

And thank goodness that Lee didn't have a treehouse here. Clem really hated that thing.

"There's a bed in one of the rooms upstairs that you can stay in until we figure out something for your own room. And, uh, if you need anything just lemme know. There's food in the kitchen obviously and there's a TV over there if you're bored."

He stood and observed as Clementine explored the main floor of the house before venturing upstairs. She was extremely inquisitive and curious for her age, checking just about every nook and cranny there could possibly be. At this rate, Lee didn't think he'd need to hire any sort of contractor if there was any damage to the house – Clem would find it first.

When they finally went upstairs, Clementine dropped her bag and sat on the mattress, not really saying much.

"Everything alright?" Lee asked, slightly concerned that all this was too much and too fast.

His thoughts were immediately erased as Clementine leapt up and hugged him tightly.

"Thank you Lee. I love it," she said, her voice muffled in Lee's shirt.

"Uh, yeah. No problem," he replied kind of awkwardly.

He then retreated back downstairs to the kitchen and sat on a bar stool that hadn't even been unpackaged yet. It was really happening. His lifelong goal of being a father was finally starting.

He just hoped that he would be up to the task.


End file.
